Lily Eskelsen García: The Standards will establish a pipeline to recruit the best and brightest high school students into teaching to ensure the next generation of competent career education professionals

WASHINGTON - June 22, 2016 -

America faces a shortage of teachers as baby boomers prepare to retire in record numbers. It is estimated that approximately a third of the nation’s teaching force is nearing retirement. The challenge is to attract more young people to the profession and prepare them for the complexity and rewards of teaching. NEA, Educators Rising and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards have joined forces to release Educators Rising Standards, a guide to defining what high school students exploring teaching must know and be able to do to be on the path to accomplished teaching.

Created by a working committee of students, practitioners, and education sector leaders, the standards identify the critical skills and dispositions students should be developing — while still in high school — to take their first steps on a planned journey to become great teachers.

"All students deserve highly skilled, well-prepared teachers throughout every step of their learning journeys,” said NEA President Lily Eskelsen García during an event today to unveil the standards. “The Educators Rising Standards will help ensure that we recruit bright young people into teaching, with special focus on increasing diversity and attracting the most creative, competent career professionals.

The standards are designed to serve as the foundation for curricula and assessments used in high school-based, grow-your-own teacher pipeline programs across the country.

“Educators Rising Standards truly signal a new day for the teaching pipeline,” said Educators Rising Co-Director Dan Brown. “The profession is coming together to say very clearly that the front end of the professional continuum begins in secondary. Through the vision of the standards and the aligned curriculum and micro-credentials soon to come, many high school students interested in impact will now be able to gain opportunities to explore teaching in ways that help them build identities as young educators and put them on a coherent road to accomplished practice.”

NEA announced its partnership with Educators Rising to help improve the teacher recruitment pipeline earlier this year. Starting in high school, Educators Rising provides passionate young people with hands-on teaching experience to help sustain their interest in teaching as a profession, and help them cultivate the skills needed to be successful educators. The processes and protocols used for empowering the development committee to define the Educators Rising Standards were borrowed from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS).

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About NEAThe National Education Association (www.nea.org) is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing nearly 3 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators and students preparing to become teachers.

About Educators RisingEducators Rising, powered by PDK International, is transforming how America develops aspiring teachers. Starting with high school students, we provide passionate young people with hands-on teaching experience, sustain their interest in the profession, and help them cultivate the skills they need to be successful educators. The result is a pipeline of accomplished teachers who are positioned to make a lasting difference—not only in the lives of their students, but also in the field of teaching more broadly. Learn more at www.educatorsrising.org.

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